ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
There are more than 350 books on NPR's Books We Love list. That is our yearly roundup of our favorite reads chosen by our staff and critics. Three hundred fifty is so many books, seriously. Thankfully, there are filters you can use to drill down to your tastes. So today we are going to ignore the literary fiction, skip the big, detailed history books and go straight to cookbooks. Here to tell us about a few is Andrew Limbong, host of NPR's Book of the Day Podcast. Hey, Andrew.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.
SHAPIRO: All right. We're in the middle of holiday season, treat season, cookie season. Give me a title that's going help me put some nice things on the spread.
LIMBONG: All right. I think thankfully Christopher Kimball - he heads the crew over at the food media company Milk Street - is here to help. They just came out with a book called "Milk Street Bakes" - pretty self-explanatory by the title. In it, you've got a wide variety of treats. You got your peanut butter miso cookies. You got your tahini swirl brownies. You got popovers. You got scones - pretty much anything you can stick into an oven. I'm personally more of a savory guy, and there's a recipe on here for a calzone with caramelized onions, anchovies and raisins.
SHAPIRO: Oh, that's a twist.
LIMBONG: Yeah, I'm curious about it. You know, I don't know how it's going to go, but I'll trust the process.
SHAPIRO: I trust Christopher Kimball.
LIMBONG: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: I am less of a measure-it-out-and-bake-it guy, more of a throw-it-into-a-pot-and-hope-it tastes-good guy. Is there something for people who want to just get dinner on the table on a weeknight?
LIMBONG: There's a book on this list called "Big Vegan Flavor" by Nisha Vora. Some people might recognize her from her YouTube channel. It's called Rainbow Plant Life. The subtitle is called "Techniques And 150 Recipes To Master Vegan Cooking." And I say that because the word techniques comes before recipes, right? And the philosophy is that she's really teaching you more how to, like, approach cooking. And, you know, her philosophy is very flavor-forward. So, you know, you toss in a dash of vinegar here, some toasted nuts there. Bada-bing, bada-boom (ph) - you got yourself a dish, right?
SHAPIRO: Which still is relevant even if you're making - I don't know - bacon and eggs.
LIMBONG: Exactly, right? Even if you're not vegan, I think going through this book can just sort of help arm you with some tricks, you know, up your sleeve for Thursday night glum meals.
SHAPIRO: You mentioned that she's a YouTuber, and it seems like a lot of the books on this list - a lot of cookbooks generally these days - are from social media influencers - growing trend?
LIMBONG: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's just how - I guess that's how the cookie crumbles - right? - in the media - in the food media ecosystem.
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
LIMBONG: Do you like that one? That was good, right?
SHAPIRO: Very good.
LIMBONG: There's a couple I want to shout out here. Barry W. Enderwick runs the Instagram account Sandwiches Of History, where he makes different sandwiches that were big at times throughout history. And he's compiled everything he's learned into a new book with the same name. And, you know, there's some classic stuff, right? But there are some left turns. Apparently, there's a pineapple and cucumber sandwich on here.
SHAPIRO: Refreshing.
LIMBONG: Yeah. But he's not afraid to say, like, you know what? This historical sandwich needs a little bit of extra zhuzh, and he can talk you through that. And Carolina Gelen is all over my Instagram account. Her thing is, like, maximizing ease and accessibility for her recipes. And she's got a debut cookbook out now called "Pass The Plate." It's a lot of crowd-pleasing family favorite stuff. So, you know, you've got your schnitzels, your mushroom lasagna, sort of warm-the-belly type dishes.
SHAPIRO: Good for winter nights.
LIMBONG: Exactly.
SHAPIRO: Not all of these food books are cookbooks. There's one called "Thank You Please Come Again" by an incredible photographer. Tell us about it.
LIMBONG: Yeah. It's a photo book by a journalist, Kate Medley, and it's a tour through the American South looking at gas station foods. And when I say that, I imagine if you're thinking, like, hot dogs on those, like, spinny (ph) rolly (ph) things...
SHAPIRO: Right.
LIMBONG: It's not exactly that. No shots of the hot dogs, but she's documenting, like, tamales and catfish and bamya and chicken tikka masala. And it's just an interesting way of looking at how the South is really changing by what we eat while we pump up the gas.
SHAPIRO: Cool. NPR's Andrew Limbong. You can find our annual list of Books We Love, whether you like cookbooks or not, at npr.org/books. Thanks, Andrew.
LIMBONG: Thanks, Ari. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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